The pioneer collector of the songs and stories of the coal miners, George Korson (1899–1967) was also a leader—many say the leader—in correcting the onetime rural and Anglo-American bias in U.S. folklore studies. Korson won the highest honors in the scholarly world, despite his humble origin as a poor Jewish immigrant boy from the Ukraine, his self-training as a folklorist while working as a newspaperman, and his quiet challenge to the folklore establishment. Among the first biographies of American folklorists, this book recounts a colorful life story, a heroic personal achievement, and a significant contribution to the recognition of industrial folklore. During forty-three years of full-time journalistic employment, Korson wrote five definitive books on coal mining folklore—as well as many articles; started the Library of Congress archive of miners' songs and ballads—with his wife, a musicologist; founded and directed the Pennsylvania Folk Festival; and helped launch the National Folk Festival. He was awarded a University of Pennsylvania Citation in 1949, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1957, a University of Chicago Folklore Prize in 1961, and an Israeli Service Ribbon in American Folklore Society in 1960.The story begins with Korson's three years as a reporter on the Wilkes-Barre Record after his graduation from high school in that city, his two years with the Jewish Legion in Palestine and Egypt during World War I, and his single year at Columbia University. Then come his studies of mining folklore —both in the eastern Pennsylvania anthracite fields and in the bituminous fields of the South and Midwest—while he worked as a reporter in Pottsville and Allentown, PA., in New Jersey, and as chief editor of Red Cross publications. Korson's intellectual outlook is shown as two-sided: on one hand, an understanding that folklore is best presented in the holistic context of a community's way of life; on the other, a conviction that reform is more congruent with American social ideals than revolution. Folklorist of the Coal Fields is a treasury of information for the folklorist and the Pennsylvania history fan, as well as a source of inspiration for younger readers. It is illustrated with forty photographs of George Korson's life and the coal fields environment, plus two maps.

FOLKLORIST OF THE COAL FIELDS: George Korson's Life and Work

Gillespie, Angus

Humor & Entertainment

Penn State University Press

A readable account of both the history of the construction of the Twin Towers and the life of the people who work there.
The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center are more than office buildings. They are symbols of America, just as the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben represent their countries. Commissioned in 1962 and completed in 1976, these edifices are still the tallest man-made structures in New York City. Indeed, the builders intended the towers to make a statement about the importance of the Port of New York and New Jersey. The complex rises like Emerald City, with fountains and sculpture from what was once a dilapidated area of half-abandoned stores.
 Folklorist Angus Gillespie takes us on a tour that goes back in time and continues to the present day. He recounts the political maneuvering necessary to get the State of New Jersey to agree to situate the project at its present location. Deftly presenting portraits of the men responsible for mooring the World Trade Center at its present location, Gillespie provides ample evidence that the World Trade Center backers were “second to none in self promotion.” 
Twin Towers also demonstrates how engineers prepared the site and solved complex problems (wind patterns, elevator placement, ground-water complications) in order to erect the towers, each with 110 stories. And he discusses the contrast between the architectural community’s almost universal disdain for the towers’ design and the public’s enthusiastic acceptance of the buildings as a symbol of New York.
There is more to the Twin Towers than its architecture, however. People give this complex life, purpose, vibrancy, Gillespie points out. The World Trade Center houses more than 400 businesses and organizations from some 60 different countries engaged in a broad range of international business activities. Through his numerous first-hand interviews conducted with the people who daily work there, Gillespie vividly portrays the world of bankers, shippers, freight forwarders, and traders. With skill and insight, he captures what happens during a normal 24-hour day in the Twin Towers, starting with early morning food deliveries and ending with the patrols of nighttime security guards. 
 Twin Towers is both a fitting tribute and careful analysis of one of the most resonating symbols in American culture.

Twin Towers: The Life of New York City's World Trade Center

History

Americas

Rutgers University Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gillespie, Angus. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gillespie, Angus